The Washington Huskies, 14-11 this season but 12-2 at Alaska Airlines Arena, are going to need all the good vibes the building can provide when they host the Cal Bears Saturday. After taking an 8-2 lead over the Bears in Berkeley Jan. 15 when Cal couldn’t get going against UW’s packed-in zone defense, the Huskies unraveled quickly and stayed that way.

Cal went on a 20-3 run, five of the Bears finished in double figures, and Washington lost 82-56, its largest margin of defeat of the season.

California, which has an RPI of 48 to Washington’s 75, features four double-figure scorers in Justin Cobb (16.3), David Kravish (11.8), Tyrone Wallace (11.8) and Richard Solomon (11.5). A loser of four of its last six games following a six-game winning streak, Cal is coming off an 80-76 overtime victory over Washington State in Pullman.

Following Washington’s 64-60 win over Stanford Wednesday, head coach Lorenzo Romar hinted that he might continue with a lineup Saturday against Cal that enabled the Huskies to rally Wednesday.

Romar benched under-performing Andrew Andrews, who played a season-low five minutes, none in the second half, ultimately replacing him with Mike Anderson, who responded with 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

“The way we were going, don’t fix it,” Romar said of Andrews’ absence. “One of those situations. Our guys were really playing well.”

They’ll need a repeat against the Bears.

SERIES: Dates to Jan. 14, 1915, when UW lost to Cal 30-24 in Berkeley. Washington won four of the past six meetings, but got blown out early in the last one, an 82-56 loss at Berkeley Jan. 15. In that game, Cal held UW to 24 percent shooting in the first half, blocked seven shots and outrebounded the Huskies 44-33. It marked Cal’s largest margin of victory in the series in 17 years.

The Huskies are riding a seven-game winning streak at Alaska Airlines Arena.

C.J. Wilcox has moved into a tie for fourth place on Washington’s career scoring list with 1,757 points, matching the total of former All-American Bob Houbregs (1951-53). Wilcox is now 12 points away from No. 3 Quincy Pondexter (1,786).

Wilcox has scored 20 or more points in a game 33 times during his Husky career.

Nigel Williams-Goss is averaging 18.6 points and shooting 54.5 percent from 3-point range over his past five games.

The Huskies are wearing patches on the uniforms in recognition of Marv Harshman, head coach from 1972-85, who passed away April 12. Harshman had a 246-146 record at Washington and won back-to-back Pac-10 championships in 1984 and 1985.

UW HEAD COACH:Lorenzo Romar (344-226 overall, 251-138 UW) is coming off a year in which the Huskies finished 18-16 and ended with a loss to Brigham Young in the National Invitation Tournament. Romar took the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament six times and won three Pac-10 Tournament titles (2005, 2010, 2011).

WeeklyRoundup Email

Followus on Twitter

Likeus on Facebook

Circleus on Google+

SportspressNW.com has partnered with Crosscut.com. Watch exclusive videos of Art Thiel and get the latest political and civic news from the Northwest at Crosscut.com.

ArtThiel on KNKX

Kirsten Kendrick's Q. & A. with Thiel can be heard every Friday during Morning Edition at 5:35am and 7:35am and again that same day on All Things Considered at 4:45pm. It also airs Saturday at 6:35am and 9:35am.